Siphiwe Nyanda in more tender controversy

By Andy Rice• 16 August 2010

Abalozi Risk Advisory Services has been embroiled in more tender controversy. The company, which belongs to the family of Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda, was awarded a reported R20 million tender to investigate service delivery protests in Mpumalanga, without the tender being advertised, or competitive bids being sought. Spokesperson for the Mpumalanga Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Simphiwe Kunene confirmed that the tender had been awarded to Abalozi, but said that the R20 million figure was an exaggeration. "It was more like R7 million, but it was definitely not the R20 million that was reported", he said. Kunene said that the tender had been awarded on an "emergency procurement" basis and was therefore compliant with Treasury regulations. Abalozi reportedly fingered rivals of Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza as the funders and instigators of the service delivery riots that dogged the province last year.
Read more: ITWeb and TimesLive.